Newton D. Baker to Woodrow Wilson

I think you will be interested in the following facts:
In the Civil War the persons who volunteered in the armies of the United States of 21 years of age and under numbered 2,159,798. Among these there were twenty-five of 10 years of age and under. Those of eighteen years and under were 1,151,438.
The total of those of 22 years and over was 618,511, and of these only 46,626 were more than 25 years of age.
This, of course, was the largest test the volunteer system has ever had in the United States, and the results seem to me to point to the fact that military material must be drawn from the young men of the country, and that probably those who believe that a denial of the volunteer spirit to men over 25 years will be serious, are misled in their judgment as to the number of such men in the country desiring to volunteer.

Respectfully yours,

The President.